Lack of longitudinal changes in cognition in individuals with methamphetamine use disorder during the first 6 weeks...

Background: Methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) associates with cognitive impulsivity deficits. However, few studies have examined longitudinal changes in cognition, and it remains unclear if deficits resolve during early recovery.Objectives: To compare: (1) cognitive function of individuals with MUD at treatment onset and six-weeks later with controls tested over the same period; (2) cognitive changes in MUD-individuals who remained abstinent versus relapsed.Method: We recruited 108 participants meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for methamphetamine dependence (81 males) and 50 demographically matched controls (38 males); 77 methamphetamine- dependent participants (59 males) and 48 controls (36 males) were retained at follow-up. We administered response inhibition, delay discounting and uncertainty-based decision-making tests at both endpoints. Relapse was defined as methamphetamine concentrations >0.4 ng/mg at follow-up in hair toxicology.Results: We found a significant time-by-group interaction on uncertainty-based decision-making (effect size: η.05), although post-hoc tests to disentangle this interaction yielded inconclusive results (p-range = .14-.40; BF-range = 0.43-1.67). There were no significant time-by-group interactions on response inhibition or delay discounting, with the former likely a null effect (η-interaction = .003 and .02; BF= 0.23 and 0.71). There were no significant differences in cognitive recovery between individuals who maintained abstinence (n = 12) versus relapsed (n = 65) (η-range = .003-.04), although evidence was inconclusive toward whether findings reflected true null effects (BF-range = 0.33-0.75).Conclusion: We did not find evidence that MUD-related cognitive impulsivity deficits improve beyond practice effects over 6 weeks. Findings do not support previous, albeit conflicting, evidence of early recovery of cognitive deficits in MUD.